I grumbled under my breath as I gathered my things, calling the bossy domineering man, who was taking up way too much space, every creative name I could come up with. All while being silently grateful that I could use his high-handedness as my excuse to go home. I was so tired it was a miracle I hadn’t fallen asleep standing up. Not that I would ever admit to him that he was right.
Raylan waited in the hall, Havoc tucked snug as bug in his arms as I pulled my office door closed behind me and locked it up. I stomped down the hall toward the back exit doing my best to forget he existed—my snit still in full effect—but he made that impossible when he placed his large palm on the small of my back.
Heat shot through my body, starting right where he touched and spreading into my limbs. I tried to hide the way everymuscle in my body tensed, but from the low, almost animalistic rumble that vibrated from his chest, he caught it before I could force my spine to relax.
“Christ, Lennix. You don’t need to be scared of me. Ever.”
I shoved through the back door, stepping out into the crisp night air, and looked up at Raylan, my brows slamming together in confusion. “What? I’m not scared of you.”
His features were downright thunderous. “Don’t lie. I felt the way you locked up just now when I touched you.”
My eyes widened in surprise that he read my body’s reaction to him so wrong. “That wasn’t because I was scared, Raylan.” I regretted the words as soon as I said them because they gave too much away.
I could see, clear as day, as the uncertainty drained from his features, quickly replaced by that smug, self-satisfied grin that made my palm itch to slap the bastard. “Ah, I see.”
I whipped around and started for my car, determined to ignore the heat spreading through my cheeks and down my neck. I needed to put this man in my rearview, at least until I’d had enough sleep so I was back on my game where he was concerned. I was tired. That was all. That was why he was throwing me off so badly.
“You see nothing,” I snapped, “because there’s nothing to see.” I reached my car and turned back to face him, my movements jerky with frustration. “Now give me my dog so I can go home. Like you bossed me into doing,” I added snidely.
I’d been so wrapped up in the agitation and frustration coursing through me that I hadn’t realized the air around me had grown downright frigid. Then I caught the thunderstorm on Raylan’s face as he stared at something over my shoulder, and shivered at the unhappy vibes pouring off of him.
“What the fuck is that?”
I followed his line of sight, only then spotting the pale white tulip standing out against the deep blue paint of my car’s hood.
Well, shit.
Chapter Twelve
Lennix
Ireached for the folded piece of paper beneath the tulip but Raylan beat me to it. For a man as big as he was, he moved surprisingly fast, snatching it up in the blink of an eye. And what he read on it made the storm clouds in his eyes even darker.
“What the hell is this, Lennix?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and scowled. “Well, I don’t know, seeing as I didn’t have a chance to read it before you butted into business that has nothing to do with you.”
I went to grab the note, only for him to yank it out of my reach. Instead of handing it to me, he flipped it over so I could read the two words scrawled across the paper in that same sharp, slanted writing.My beauty.
A shiver worked its way down my spine, but I managed to suppress any outward signs that the flower and the note had creeped me out a bit.
“It’s nothing,” I said, adopting an apathetic tone. “It’s probably only some guy with a crush.”
Raylan’s eyes widened. “You’ve gotten notes like this before?”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not a big deal, really.”
He looked at me like I’d lost all my marbles. “Are you kidding me? How many of these stalker notes have you gotten?”
“This is only the second. And you’re blowing this way out of proportion. I’m sure whoever’s leaving them is totally harmless.”
I hadn’t thought it possible, but his features got even harder. If I hadn’t known on an instinctive level that he would never hurt me, I might have actually been scared of him. “We’ll talk about this on the drive home. Get in the truck.”
My mouth fell open and I gaped at him. “Excuse me?”
He jerked his chin in the direction of his truck, parked two spots down from mine. “In the truck, Chaos. It’s late as fuck and I’m beat.”
I narrowed my eyes into vicious slits as I folded my arms over my chest. “Then go home. I don’t need a damn babysitter.”
